


The Whip's Bite: Episode Three

by Pinky_GOOLI002



Series: The Bite Series [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Character Turned Into Vampire, F/M, M/M, Multi, Sieges, Slavery, Torture, Vampire Bites, Vampire Family, Vampire Hunters, Vampire Sex, Vampire Turning, Vampires, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:55:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23173531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinky_GOOLI002/pseuds/Pinky_GOOLI002
Summary: Read to find out, not giving you any spoilers!
Series: The Bite Series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665790
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter Fifteen: A Place Called Hell

* * *

_ **Episode Three** _

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: A Place Called Hell**

_ **Two Years Back** _

I woke up with a grunt, a sharp pain in my chest whenever I took a breath. Normally I find vampires wake in a sudden, sharp manner, but I was too tired, too hurt and too hungry even for that. My eyes felt like they were stuck together with tree sap, as if I was human again and my eyes could have sleep-webs. I felt rocking from side to side, a juddering of wheels. I could smell the mud of the road, the wet wood of the cart and the cold steel of the cage behind it.

Am I in purgatory, where all abominations such as vampires go when they die? Not heaven nor hell? It would explain the fact that I am conscious even after I was killed by several bullets to the heart.

“Oh I think he’s awaken.” I heard a young male voice. It was human, I could smell it from inside the front of the cart.

Humans shouldn’t be in purgatory.

“Should I hit him with a jab?” The young voice asked.

“No, he shouldn’t be able to do anything in that condition,” answered an older, stern voice.

This doesn’t sound like purgatory. This sounds like I’m being taken in a hunter’s cart somewhere.

Oh no… I’m alive.

How? How have I survived this? Is fire really the only way to kill a vampire? I thought we were more fragile than that… I mean how have humans manage to dominate and enslave vampires if they are that hard to kill?

I reached up to my chest to find several wholes near my heart. I could feel the wood chips inside my chest, inside my heart. It rarely took a beat, but for some reason now I noticed the lack of its pumping. Those bullets still inside my chest were the main reason I was too weak to make any actual movements. I couldn’t sit, or roll or do anything other than listen… and look. I forced my eyes open with an exhale and a cry of pain, only to see a young man’s face looking at me through a window in the back of the cart, studying me carefully.

“You sure we don’t need to jab him again?”

“Yes, stop trying to waste aconite.” An older hand hit the back of the young hunter’s head, and he turned away from me.

Where are they taking me?

“Here we go, at last.” The old hunter said, and the jerk of the cart as we stopped made me howl in pain.

“Animal.” I could hear the younger hunter mutter under his breath. If I had any control over my weak body, I would snarl at him.

The humans stepped out of the cart, and I heard another couple come by. They opened the back of the cart to look at me, like a monkey in a cage, before two of them grabbed the chains that held my wrists and ankles and carried me off the cart, and step by step into a building.

It was a low concrete building, with almost no windows and a heavy metal door. Inside they led me into a big room where many other vampire were hanging about. Some of them seemed broken, empty, while others seemed in pain or angry.

I was just too tired to fight.

The humans placed me on the floor and took my chains off, before kicking me further into the room and leaving.

I looked at the door, seeing two guards with guns standing at each side, and two more were further into the room.

Slowly with my aching brain I managed to realise where they took me. I have only heard of such places before. Vampire training facilities.

Some humans believed that collars were a waste of time, and what they really wanted was to break us down until we became hollow shells: perfect slaves.

They will never break me. I could withstand pain, and torture. What on earth can they do to me to make me forget who I am?

The hours crawled by until the aconite slowly faded through my system enough that I could sit, so I crawled to the nearest wall and sat against it, breathing hard and closing my eyes, resting.

Then I felt a gun press against my chest, and when I opened my eyes a guard was standing above me.

“State your name for the record.”

“John Carter,” I growled, my voice hoarse from the aconite.

And that was it, he stepped away.

So I closed my eyes and waited, and not even five minutes later a man in a white doctor’s coat stepped in, accompanied by five more guards.

“To the feeding station,” he started to say, and then started to call a list of five names, mine amongst them. Then he paused, changed the sheet of paper he was reading from and said “To the training room”

When he said that a shudder went through the room, and I could almost smell the fear in the vampires.

The doctor then called another five names.

The vampires called to the eating got up half reluctantly, walking slowly towards the guards at the door. But the ones who have been called to the training didn’t budge. Well, two of them didn’t, the rest went with bowed heads and slow steps.

Two guards went to each unmoving vampire, and seemed to shock them with some kind of currant that made them struggle for less than a second before fainting: they were then dragged out.

I joined the group of vampires that were called to eating, every step hurting.

We were led down white corridors into a bright room with cubicles. In it I found there was a weird looking glass standing full with blood.

I was so hungry my fangs went out before I even reached the glass, but the second I touched it they went back in, because I received a painful electrical current from it.

Growling, but ignoring the pain, I forced myself to keep a hold of the glass and drink the little blood that was there.

It was the worse meal I ever had.

I let go of it the second I could, and stepped back to leave, but the cubicle was closed and the amount of blood they gave me was not even enough to wash the aconite out, let alone bring me back to full strength.

I needed to wait for an opportunity. I was determined to escape. I needed to find Elliot and see if she was okay. What was she doing now without me? Was sh on a boat? Travelling to safety? Or was she in an institute like this?

Was Jeffrinn in an institute like this? He was too young, too fragile, it wouldn’t take too much for them to break him…

I leaned agains the door, swallowing my tears before they came. This is not what I had planned.

Then the door opened, and I almost fell on a guard.

This was as good of an opportunity as any.

So I jumped on him, fangs out, and didn’t bite him, but tore his throat out with my teeth, and when he fell on the ground I turned away to run.

But there were other guards there, and before I could attack any of them they started to shoot me.

They didn’t shoot me with bullets, but weird wires that dug into my skin and caused my whole body to start screaming with pain of a seizure.

The guards grabbed me, pulling me away. I heared someone say something, but my ears kept ringing and I couldn’t understand the words.

I didn’t scream, I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction. But I couldn’t fight them either as they dragged me now back to the same big room.

They then pulled the wires off me, starting to walk away and expecting me to sit and weep.

What they didn’t expect is for my rage to be as big as it was. I felt like the black of my eyes might just cover the whole white for once with my anger.

They would not hold me away from my love.

I pushed myself up from the ground and leaped again on another guard, but this time as I bit his neck and drank, I held him in front of me as a shield, my eyes fixed on the other guards that had their guns pointed.

Oh yeah, they didn’t expect this.

But then the person in the white doctor’s robe stepped in, saw me, and shouted at them to shoot already.

And surprisingly, they listened and shot. Even though the wires mostly hit the human I was holding, one of them managed to hit my shoulder and make me crumble to the floor.

It’s only one, I thought, and forced myself to get to my feet. But now I didn’t have a shield, and the humans shot away, filling me with those weird things to the point a howl escaped my lips and I feel back to the floor, unable to keep my body from moving in every direction possible.

“This seem to be a difficult one… Put him in the isolation room.” I heard the doctor say, before I lost consciences.

I woke up in a tiny room, so much it was more like a cupboard. And it was sunny, too sunny it made my skin crawl.

Normally I could handle sun like every other vampire, but it seemed they somehow amplified this sun, or even made it artificially, as it made me more uncomfortable than it ever has.

I closed my eyes and sat up against the wall: My legs couldn’t even stretch out, my knees touched the door even when my back was pressed against the opposite wall.

I sat there, uncomfortable more than I have ever been, weak and hungry, my eyes black even though I kept my fangs in, my throat painfully dry.

Days have passed before the room revealed itself for what it really was. I figured out the sun was artificial, because the blissful night never came, and so I started to loose track of time.

At once I woke for a horrible pain, as all the walls became electrocuted and passed waved of pain into my bones. I jumped up, trying to get away, but even through the contact of my feet it was strong enough of a pain to make me grit my teeth. I just stood there, nails digging into my palms, waiting for the pain to stop. But it didn’t. It simply kept going, and going, and going. And then after what seemed like hours aconite gas started to be pumped into the room, causing every breath to burn and my skin to feel as if it was sizzling. There was pain everywhere, inside, outside. Electric, chemical, sunshine. And it kept going, not stopping. Until the aconite got deep enough into my system I couldn’t stand up anymore, and I fell on the floor, where the pain only got worse because more of my body was in contact with the electric walls and floor.

But I didn’t scream, I didn’t cry or begged. The only thing that grew was my hate. Pain would not break me.

It never stopped, and it never got bearable, it seemed to just keep going and going. From time to time someone slipped a sealed bag of blood into my chamber, and I drank it while still in horrible pain. It seemed they only did it to keep me alive.

And even though it was good quality of blood, I seemed to grow to hate it too, and each time drank it with less satisfaction just because of the pain my body started to associate with it. 

It seemed like months by the time the door finally opened and the pain stopped. An unwanted sigh of relief escaped my lips, and I slumped further on the floor. I was too weak to even get up, let alone charge on the human there. It wasn’t even a guard, it was the doctor, and he was smiling.

“I didn’t get a chance to welcome you properly because you decided to be so difficult. I am Dr. Spike, head of this facility and the training routine. Just for your knowledge It has been almost two months since you arrived. Are you ready to go back into the main room and behave yourself?”

I took all the strength I could do, and spit in his face.

He just sighed, and without a word closed the door and turned this machine back on, making me grunt and wriggle in pain for a second before I was too weak to move again.

That routine happened every day. Dr. Spike or one of his helpers would come and check on me, and each time they would ask me the same thing. Was I ready to behave myself. Each time I replied with an insult, or flip of a finger, or simply spitting on them.

And they stopped giving me any blood, so by the time it got to two and a half months of me being in the facility, I could barely even lift my eyes.

I was awoken by the door opening, and looked up to see Dr. Spike, and again he asked me. I was too weak to argue. I didn’t move or make any sort of gesture. I couldn’t find the strength.

He just grinned and gave me a small bag of blood, which I drank instantly. But it wasn’t enough for me to even give me strength to walk. So he called the guards who dragged me back to the main room, throwing me in the corner.

I forced myself to sit up and look around. Some of the vampires that I saw here before were still here, but they all looked weak. Some new vampires arrived, and they looked agitated, but no one seemed to try to _do_ anything.

But I was still determined to escape, but this time I tried to be smarter.

I waited a week, as they let me recover slightly. I got enough blood to be myself again.

So I waited until they brought me back from the ‘feeding station’ one day, and as we passed by the main doors I turned around and attacked the guard next to me, breaking his arms and not wasting time. I just ran to the door. But it was heavy, and it took me several punches to open it. By then five guards were behind me, and as I stepped one leg through the door, they shot.

This time I lost consciousness immediately.

I woke up back in the isolation room as it was turned on, but this time I was too angry. I got to my feet and slammed against the heavy door, and screamed curses.

So they pumped more aconite than before into the room, until I slumped weak to the floor, and the door opened.

Dr. Spike didn’t look angry, just impatient.

“Fine, if you must be so intolerable, lets begin with the real work.”

He motioned to the guards and they dragged me across the corridors to another room, and then into another glass room within it.

In the glass room was a horizontal white metal tube, with white padding on the inside. It had a door at the closer end, and I was pushed inside to lie on my back. I wasn’t cramped in it, but there wasn’t room to move much. But at least my legs were stretch out. It was dark inside and soft.

How bad could it be?

They closed and clasped the door at the end, and I welcomed the darkness with a sigh. I heard a whirring sound as the machinery was turned on, and then suddenly a bright light filled the chamber. It was so impossibly white and bright, and it seemed to be coming from everywhere. But I still didn’t scream as my sensitive eyes hurt as they never had before (even closed) and my skin seemed to burn.

Then something seemed to grab my neck, like a collar holding me down into the cushion of the tube. And then other braces popped out of nowhere, holding my wrists, upper arms, thighs and ankles. When they were all deployed, I suddenly felt a sharp pain as spikes seemed to come out of them, each needle like, incredibly thin and long: as if they seem to meet in the middle of each limb they had. At the back of my neck instead came the horrible, familiar sensation of collar tentacles, as they bore deep into my brain.

The process itself didn’t take long, but it was painful, and when it was finished stuff started to come out of the needles. Blood and aconite mixed together to keep me both alive and weak simultaneously.

Then I heard a sharp click, and the worst pain I could even have imagine filled everything.

The bright light seemed to get brighter, I couldn’t breath or scream because of the needles in my throat. I couldn’t move to try and escape the pain. It was so strong it left me in shock. It felt like I was shuddering.

My eyes filled with blood tears, but that still didn’t help the brightness in my eyes. It seemed to has seeped through my skin and into my bones, there was no escaping it.

Then the tentacles in my brain managed to find my memories of my escapes, or fights and hunts, and they showed them to me over and over in my head, with sentences in between.

“You deserve this. You should obey. Hurting people is sin. There is no escape” And similar were spoken with my own voice back to me in my head as the pain just seemed to grow worse and worse.

Then my throat healed just enough for me to be able to scream.

It was more like a roar of pain, and it rang in my ears, somehow causing me more pain in the small tube. But I couldn’t stop, I was in so much pain… too much for my body to handle.

It seemed like forever when the machine was finally turned off. The tentacles came out of my brain, and the needles out of my body.

I weeped at the relief as the door opened and someone dragged me back to isolation. They didn’t even turn the room on, I just sat there, cramped and slowly calmed down. I wasn’t even too weak because of the blood they pumped into me. But the pain seemed to echo, somehow still there even when it was gone. And the bright isolation room seemed dark in comparison as my eyes and skin slowly healed.

But that wasn’t enough to break me, And it seemed that Dr. Spike knew that. Because the next day it happened again. And again the next, and again the next.

Every day, and I counted this time, every day for three months.

And I still wasn’t broken. No matter how much pain.

So when Dr. Spike asked me his routine checkup questions, am I ready to behave, have I accepted my position in society and so on and so forth, he seemed to grow impatient.

So the next day it took longer for the tube to start working. The brain tenticles seemed to take longer to find their place. When the images started I realised why.

Every time before it was my own memories, of my hunts. But this time it was different.

I saw Elliot, beautiful and naked, and she looked at me with a sad, pitying smile. I breathed in relief as I saw her face, forgetting for a second it was images being put there.

But then she turned away for me, and Jeffrinn appeared in the image, naked too.

It looked too real, the way I saw her body arch as he slid into her, the way they moved together. The sound they made.

“Oh Jeff…” It was her voice. My wife’s voice! calling someone else’s! And my own vampiric son no less.

I couldn’t even move to turn away or fight the images. I was forced to watch, and hear, and see as they took a long good while to enjoy themselves.

She screamed in a beautiful orgasm, a sound I knew too well, and he shouted with her, and I saw them cuddling together as the machine was turned off.

I was shaking stronger than I ever had, and when someone took me out of the tube I threw up on the floor, choking and crying as blood gushed out of my stomach.

No. This wasn’t real. This was just the humans putting images into my brain. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real.

But the next day came, with similar images, same sounds of my lover loving someone else. And at the end those same messeges they shouted with my own voice before came back before the physical pain ended.

The next day it happened again. Each time I cried harder, threw up harder and was weaker at the end. Each time it was harder to convince myself it wasn’t real.

After all I told Jeffrinn to take care of Elliot, and they are probably in America together by now, safe… Thinking that I’m dead. Why would she wait for me? I was dead in her mind, she had no reason to save herself anymore because she thought I wasn’t there to come back to her anymore.

It broke me further than anything ever has, as the pain seemed to grow stronger with the emotional pain. Each day I grew mentally weaker, the messages at the end cutting deeper.

“STOP! STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP!” I couldn’t stop myself from screaming, I tried to wiggle away, but the needles were too deep and each tiny movement just caused even more pain.

One night I was sitting in the isolation room, — or I think it was night, as the artificial sun was still there — and I rubbed my wrists, trying to make the echo of the pain go away, when I noticed little dots were still on my skin where the needles always came in, even though my skin was healed. 

It seemed I was developing scars.

Sure enough when I checked my ankles and thighs there they were, little dots of lighter skin.

I sighed, and tears started rolling down my face.

There was no escaping this. It was now permanently on my body. And there was no reason to escape it, cause by now Elliot was probably happy with Jeffrinn in America.

Without me.

I dug my nails into my chest, trying to reach my heart and hoping I could rip it out, but it started to hurt a lot, and I realised there wasn’t any point for that too.

There wasn’t even a point to dying anymore.


	2. Chapter Sixteen: An Unlikely Reunion

**Chapter Sixteen: An Unlikely Reunion**

“Put him in the main hall, we have better uses for the isolation room now,” Dr. Spike instructed the random guard who dragged me out of the torture room today. Instead of leading me back to the small windowless room I spent the last several weeks in, he led me back to the first room I was in. It was the same square and big and full of scared vampires. Most of my kind who were here when I arrived where no longer there, replaced by new ones. I guess it took longer to break me than the rest, but I was broken non-the-less. It was the reason Dr. Spike felt he could put me with the rest without fear of me retaliating again.

I would have crossed the room with lowered eyes back to the nearest wall and sat down against it, waiting for my next trip to pain, or next dose of blood. I would have been idle like a rug-doll if not for the smell.

Among all the many smells in the room, one smell stood out and caught my attention. It was musky, reminding me of wet ashes and baked nuts.

So instead of being idle, I raised my eyes.

“No.” was the only word I could pronounce as it left my lungs in a rush with the rest of the air I had. My eyes caught the vampire who belonged to that smell, and he was already standing in front of me, probably noticing me before I did him.

It was my father.

Not my biological father, but my true father, the one who made me who I am, the one who turned me. My Master.

One of my knees collapsed and I almost fell to the floor. I was weak from months of mental and physical torture, and I just came back from one of the worst ones, the one that at last broke me.

But he caught me, somehow his arms still strong and steading, as he gently rested me against the nearest wall. He looked around to check no one was looking, but I could not take my eyes off him. This was the first time I truly saw him.

He had an erie dark tone of skin, contrast with his almost completely white eyes, that only had a tiny flash of yellow in the thin iris. His hair was dark and he had a strong nose, broad shoulders. He was huge. How could I not notice this when he was a servant of mine? Could I not see how big he was when I was human?

When his eyes met mine, they were soft.

“Fa… Mas… Fath…Master…” I croaked, unsure of what to say.

“Son,” His response was so simple and still it answered my unasked question, “long time since I have seen you, I have feared you were dead.” He smiled as if to say he was glad I was not.

If this strange reunion had happened long ago, I would have strangled him for ruining my life, but now he was my last hope to sanity, my last remaining link to anything that was real. Even though I didn’t know him, he brought me great comfort. After all my blood was his.

“Father,” is all I could say, even though I didn’t say it, merely whispered it.

“It’s all right, I am here,” one hand on my shoulder and the other on my cheek, “I will answer to everything,” this was both a promise to answer to my own questions about the past, my questions about the future, a promise to teach me, but also a promise of protection.

I had many to ask, and many I needed an answer too, but all of a sudden I felt so small and tired, the shock was too much after my heart was broken. I let my head drop into his hand as I slipped into slumber.

***

“Albert Martel.”

“Does that make me a Martel too?” I said. I couldn’t imagine having a different name.

“Of course, but you have no reason to use it, not now… in a different time our family name was very important… every vampire older than the revolution would recognise it… But now it doesn’t mean much… not with the humans.”

I looked at him in awe.

“Royalty?” I whispered. 

“No, no, there is no such thing as royalty in the vampire society.” he paused, then smiled, “but the closest to it.”

I managed to smile a little bit, but the movement of the muscles reminded me of my torture and caused me great mental pain. Albert noticed, but he did not comment.

“Your grandmother, Daralis, is a very powerful vampire, the family’s name got its power from him.”

“He’s alive?”

“I do not know. Our home was attacked, humans took us all, I have not seen them since.” His face was dark with grief, “But when this damn revolution is over, I’m going to use all my power to put the family back together.”

“Over?” I looked around it worry, terrified a guard will hear our words.

“I’m doing everything to disband the power humans have over vampires. I help vampires escape from everywhere, so in the end there will be enough vampires to fight back… to make the humans stop.”

I breathed heavily, the torture did it’s work and I was terrified from his words. He saw, and stopped.

“We are getting out of here.”

I couldn’t nod, I couldn’t react. In desperation I decided to change the subject. Something that has been bothering me for a long time.

“Since you are my father, which is clear, it means Elliot is my sister, because your blood is in her too… Does that mean that I am married… Mated… to my sister?” I grimaced at the awkward thought.

“Yes, she is my daughter too… but you were married beforehand, and mating is stronger than any relations. It is not common, and in old days it would have been done differently, but you are husband and wife before you are brother and sister. Do not let it worry you.”

I sighed in relief. She was my whole world, she was everything to me, knowing that there was no problem with us as a couple because of our shared blood was a huge solace.

But then I remembered the pictures, the images that have been planted in my head next to pain for a long time now. At first I could fight them, remind myself that they aren’t real, but after this long, I didn’t know anymore. They were together, just the two of them for a long time now, anything could happen.

I held myself from starting to shake, not wanting to look weak in front of Albert.

He just sat there, looking at me with sadness in his eyes, pity… but he said nothing.

Only when he could see that I was in control of my body again did he ask.

“Is she alive?”

“I don’t know,” I said, my voice was hoarse. “I was shot in the chest… three times… Jeffrinn promised he’ll protect her before me if anything like that happen… and they are not here with me…” I couldn’t continue. Since they are not here, they could be either dead, separated in different facilities, or they are still free and are in the Americas like we planned.

“I see…” he said, his face sharing my pain.

Then a couple more guards stepped into the room and called the names of the vampires who were going to get fed now, and the vampires who are going to the torture room. It was a horrible way to keep everyone in the room against each other instead of fighting together as a species.

***

Three days passed without any special events, I was left to my own, not called to torture or feeding since the last time, the day when I met my father. I guess they knew I was broken like I did.

But they didn’t know I had someone to help me heal. Even after he was tortured, Albert looked like it was nothing, and still sat next to me and talked. He explained to me things I couldn’t learn on my own about the hierarchy of families, about our abilities, about him and my grandmother. But there was still so much I didn’t know.

“A vampire can’t simply be killed with a shot in the heart, we heal too quickly. But if you heart was taken out… or you lost so much blood, then ripping your head off your shoulders would be enough… even though. Always burn the bodies.”

“Why are you teaching me how to fight vampires? Even theoretically? I need to know how to fight humans.”

“But that’s easy, you just break enough bones, stop the heart, take the head off or break the neck… they are slow and insignificant.” He retorted.

“And still look where we are.” I gritted me teeth at his vanity.

But he just smiled.

I looked at him, confused, but he just got up, stepped to the middle of the room, looked around the vampires in the room.

“Some of you will recognise the name Martel, and others I have talked to,” a guard started to step towards Albert, his gun raised, “The time is now.” When he said that he turned, and in less than a second he had the gun of the guard in his hands, pointing at the guard’s head. He moved so fast that even for me it was a strain to be able to follow him as he walked to the guard and just yanked the gun from his hands, and as he calmly pulled the trigger.

The second the shot was done a burst of activity began, both as in an upraise and in response to the smell of human blood. However, many vampires cowered in the corners, too broken to fight back against their captors.

I got up myself, eager to get free, despite of the fear, and something in my blood pointed me to follow my father, as if he said a silent command.

I used my ability to move quickly, and in addition I also ran to the nearest guard, not even bothering with his gun, just grabbing his head and twisting it so hard it almost fell from his neck, even still my fangs came out in instinct. Three vampires jumped on the body to eat, and even though I was hungry, I resisted myself. There were more important things to do. I took the gun from underneath the havoc of mouths and teeth and headed to the door.

Dr. Spike was going to at last pay for the pain he cause me and so many others.

I was not the only one looking for revenge, at least 5 vampires were headed before me through the hall’s doors and through the corridors, killing or shooting everyone in their way to Dr. Spike’s room of misery.

We were kept here, even though we had every power to get free… It’s amazing what the power of fear and pain can cause.

Dr. Spike was against the wall, two vampires fighting over him, on who would kill him. By their smell I knew they were much much older than me, but I could still get what I wanted.

“Hey, there is no rush, and I know something better for him than death.” I shouted over their voices.

They stopped, and looked at me, already knowing what I meant.

The older vampire of the pair, a blond scholarly looking vampire smiled at me in approval. “Martels always knows how to select their children,” he nodded to me, and without hesitation bit his wrist. 

Helped by the other vampire they forced the doctor to swallow the vampire’s blood, both of them bit him afterwards. They used his assistant’s blood to finish the process.

I smiled. After causing so much pain to so many vampires, he would feel their pain now. And he will hate himself for being one of us. I didn’t even have to do it myself, simply seeing him throw up all of his blood on the floor was satisfying enough.

When he fell unconscious it was enough for me, and I went back into the corridor, searching my father. I was not going to lose him again, not now.

I found him using his distinct smell, that still somehow always stood out from the rest, and I followed it to the door. It was ripped open. He was standing just outside it, directing the rest of the vampires out, when he saw me he smiled. “What did I tell you? Humans are insignificant when it really comes to it.”

I laughed, not sure if I wanted to agree or not… after all we were all human once. But he grasped my shoulder, “You did good today,” he said simply, and turned to go.

It was unspoken but still crystal clear. I followed him, eager to learn, eager to know him, but most of all, eager for a distraction and the pain this place caused me.

I needed to eat. I needed to kill. My fangs needed something to sink into before they will agree to disappear again.


	3. Chapter Seventeen: This Is War

**Chapter Seventeen: This Is War**

“We just left one! Why on earth would you want to find another one?!” I shouted at my father, looking around the house we were hiding in. 

“I told you John, I would have left this stupid country if it didn’t need my help. We have family and safe places in France, in Germany and even further east. But this place is dying, at least for our kind, and we need to salvage it from the deep.” He lectured me again.

“And how on earth are you planning to do that? Disbanding camps won’t help, the humans will build new ones.” I growled, my patience and my humanity with it slipping away.

“If we disband enough camps, we can raise enough vampires with us, raise a vampire army… Then whenever the humans are trying to attack we will attack back. The only reason this is happening is because there is not enough faith and courage among vampires. If we restore that, this stupid revolution will be over, and we will be on top like we used to be… or at least we will be equal.” His arms were tied across his wide chest and he looked me in the eyes.

“So are you with me son, or not?” it was more a cat’s hiss than a sentence.

I lowered my eyes in defeat. “I’m with you master.” I sighed. He needed me, and I didn’t want to disappoint him.

Soon his plans started to form and succeed. I became his second in command, with the ability to order everyone but him. As a Martel I had that immediate authority over other vampires. Five vampires joined us from our escape: the two who changed Dr. Spike, Klaus Du Bec was the blond scrawny looking vampire who changed Dr. Spike, and Leonard Davies was the other one. It turns out they both knew about the Martels since Klaus was almost a 1000 years old (Albert was around 1800 years old), and Leonard was about 600 years old. I understood why Klaus kept calling me a baby now.

The other three that joined us were Mark Steal, Guy Deschamps and Milli Kings. They didn’t reveal their ages, but Milli didn’t recognise Martel, and she smelled not so much older than me. Mark and Guy were older, but not as old as Klaus or Leonard. At least not by their smells.

The seven of us run across the country. Somehow my father knew where the other facilities were. We didn’t eat much since we were a big group, so on the whole week we each ate one body. But what we missed we used animals to satisfy.

We broke (literally, we broke several walls down) the second facility easily, and let everyone inside relinquish themselves on the guards and doctors. More vampires joined our little army, Jenny and Fred were a couple, and their love brought unwanted and painful memories.

After that I lost track of names or ages. Vampires joined us not just from the places we broke in (we rescued two vampires from collars in one grand house), but also just appeared, asking to help.

Two months after we started the army had almost 40 vampires. And everyday the pain got worse.

I couldn’t tell Albert, for he needed me to command and be focused, but each night my chest grew tighter and the images created by Dr. Spike in my brain became more and more real. Of course Elliot was with Jeffrinn now… Almost a year have elapsed since our separation… 10 months of it in Hell.

No matter how close I got to Klaus, Leonard or Milli, which I did, I never spoke about Elliot, and none of us spoke about the time in the facilities.

“He was a right asshole I tell you,” Klaus laughed.

“Seriously? All the stories say that Jesus was so nice everyone fell in love with him,” I said in astonishment. Before my re-birth I was Catholic.

“Of course they tell you that, but he was an outcast by the jews, probably because of his vanity,” Klaus continued. Apparently he was already a vampire when Jesus was born.

“John,” My father’s voice tore the smile from my face, and I got up quickly, walking to him.

“Yes father?”

“We have too many people now, if we keep in the open like this it’s going to end up with too much blood… We need a base and I know where to go, but it’s going to be difficult to take it back.” He explained slowly

“Even with so many vampires?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We can’t move as a whole unit, it’s too big and again, lots of blood.” he sighed. “We need to take only about 15… and we’re going to take back the Clifford’s Tower.” 

“Clifford’s Tower? In York?!” We were about a week’s running from there. “Wait… Did you say BACK?” I continued.

“Yes, After it was burned down the Martel family helped the king rebuild it, and it was basically our hold since then… it has a very good defence system,” Albert looked at me sharply, “and right now it is a base for hunters… even more of a reason to make it the place of vampires.”

This was a bad idea, I could feel it in my bones, but I did not argue.

“It means there will be tens of hunters there… how are 15 vampires suffice?” I shuffled, uncomfortable with the idea of being outnumbered. I grew back confidence since we broke out from Dr. Spike facility, but it was still not quite perfect.

“Because if we want to succeed we need stealth and speed, which numbers do not add too.”

It ended being Albert, me, Klaus, Guy, Mark, and several other, quite old vampires. Leonard was ordered to stay behind and keep order on the rest.

We were in York only two weeks later. We stopped on the way to eat humans, but could not kill them since it would make too much of a mess. Instead we raided several homes without waking a soul, only taking a bit of blood and leaving. We couldn’t let the York Keep even suspect we were on our way. The rest of our hunger was quietened by small animals such as squirrels and foxes, or even rabbits.

Then we stood in the middle of the night in the outskirts of the city, listening to our plan from Albert, who had somehow managed to already plan it.

“Five go with me, Five go with Klaus and Five with John. There is only one entrance to the tower, but it’s going to be deeply guarded. Instead we are going to enter through three different ways, John and Klaus are going to lead through swimming across the moat and climbing to get inside. John’s team is going to head straight through the main tower roof, and Klaus is going to head from the basement, killing or scaring people to go towards the only exit. I am going to get to that said exit and make sure it is stayed open. We don’t want to kill everyone, especially the humans who are not hunters, since we will have way too many bodies then. Instead let them run. My team is going to make sure no back-up come and that no hunters escape. Are we all clear? We need to do this quietly and fast or it is not going to work.” Albert looked each and every vampire in the eye, and when we all nodded, he straitened.

“Then let’s go.”

My team entered smoothly, and we cleaned the first floor in less than three minutes. It was when we got to the second one that it became complicated: More people were awake, and they either ran or shot at us. I managed to get to the next floor without a bullet, but not everyone was that lucky. At least all of us five kept going.

On the stairs between the second and third down five hunters stood, and shot frantically. A bullet hit me in the arm, but I killed the hunter before he could do more damage to me. After all of them were dead did I look around. Mark was on the floor, since he was, sadly, at the front of our group. One bullet through his heart, another through his throat, and the last through his skull. I looked up at Guy, who was also in my group, in question. Was this enough to kill a vampire?

We bent over our friend, looking for signs of life. But his heart stopped, and we both knew it was not going to beat again.

I gritted my teeth but got to my feet. “Leave him, we have to keep going,” I said, my voice hoarse from the pain of loosing a recently acquired friend. 

Guy nodded, and we kept going.

Apparently we have passed the worst, because when we got to the ground floor it was already empty.

The keep was ours, but we lost almost four lives in the process.

“It happens, people die in war,” Klaus put a hand on my shoulder later that night, seeing that I was shaken. “When you grow you’ll understand.”

I nodded, not wanting to speak, this was not what I signed up for. Then my father walked into the room, and Klaus simply patted me again on the back before leaving.

“They will be mourned,” Albert simply agreed with me when he sat down.

I looked up at him, almost in anger. “What is the difference? Why is Mark and the rest are going to be mourned but all the tens of hunters and humans we killed tonight, and throughout our lives, not going to be?”I hissed in anger.

“They are, every single one, just not always by us.” He said calmly. “In a time of war we cannot let ourselves mourn every single soul. Would it help to understand that in a time of peace, as a vampire, you kill very rarely. The way we hunted on the way here, and having ghouls used to be much more common.” he sighed, “since the revolution started many new vampires were born, not knowing the way to keep things calm, keep things quite.” He looked straight in my eyes when he said that, referring to the tens of lives I have taken.

I didn’t know if his words helped my pain or worsened it, for all of a sudden I felt bad for every death that I have ever taken a part of.

He held my shaking arm gently by the elbow. “This is going to get better, we are going to restore our honour, I promise. And you will learn the way of war, and it will be easier.” a silenced followed his promise, but it consoled me in a way nothing else could.

***

“Hah!” Klaus laughed as he dropped me on the floor again, one hand on my throat and the other digging into my side, his nails cutting my skin.

I panted heavily, trying to regain my composure after the sparring. We were in a courtyard in the middle of the castle, with the night sky above us, tens of vampires around us, cheering and laughing. It was almost a daily routine these weeks, our hold was strong on York and we had no threats recently.

I was surprised to learn how unskilled I was compared to other vampires, even though I was extremely good for my age, and compared to humans.

I grunted, getting up when he at last let me go. “Very funny,” I growled, walking to stand near Milli who smiled at me sheepishly. She was the only vampire I consistently won against.

“Well, you did pretty well for a baby,” Klaus replied, still grinning, “Who’s next?” he asked the crowd.

“Me.”

Every head turned to the sound of my father dropped, in all these months I have not seen him spar once. I have seen him fight, of course, but not spar for fun.

“Captain,” Klaus bowed his head, even though in private I have heard him use his first name freely, in public Klaus always referred to him as either Master Martel or Captain… It was a hierarchy thing, like the fact that I had to get used to being called Martel wherever I went.

“Are you ready?” Albert didn’t wait for an approval, he simply took his shirt off and handed it to the closest vampire, clicking his knuckles and getting ready for the fight.

My father was huge, he towered over everyone with his wide shoulders and hight. I have learned that I have grown in my re-birth, as a part of his blood’s effect, and since I have joined my father I also grew, from training and eating properly. Klaus was tall, but he was scrawny, and even with his hight he still looked tiny next to my father.

But he was a good fighter, both of them were.

Klaus let himself smile as he got into his familiar fighting stance, “Ready when you are.”

They sprung into action, moving with such speed it was even hard for us vampires to follow…

Klaus attacked first, his hand stretched like a knife in an attempt to cut Albert’s side. But Albert navigated his body so he just missed, but that it got him close enough that he could hit Klaus in the neck: he hit him with such force it almost knocked him out. From then Klaus was more cautious, and most of the fight continued without any of them getting even scratched, they managed to always miss each other.

It went for nearly fifteen minutes, but then Albert did something wrong, and Klaus managed to cut his arm. However, my father used that sense of achievement in Klaus to catch him off guard, he ducked under his arms, both hands caught Klaus’s sides, and Albert threw him in the air, and then grabbed his neck and slammed him on the floor, Albert’s nails digging deep into Klaus’s neck, letting blood drop to the floor: he was losing his consciousness fast.

There was a long silence, then my father smiled, and I barley heard him saying to Klaus “You’ve been fighting too long with people who don’t know how to ignore pain.”

Then my father let go of Klaus, wiped his bloody hand on his trousers and took his shirt from whoever had it, and simply walked away. The rest of us stared in awe, not because he beat Klaus, but because of his force and his speed, and his brutality.

Even though my side was still slightly bleeding, I walked to Klaus, and helped him up, slinging his hand over my shoulder, and with Leonard joining me on the other side, we carried him to his room.

“You seem to know each other more than you tell…” I said to Klaus when we were alone in his room, and after he finished a whole bottle of cold blood.

He looked at me, his eyes colder than usual, “I’m not sure your father would want you to hear this story from me…” he said flatly.

“Well, I’m not going to hear it otherwise, now am I?” I smiled, trying to cheer my friend.

He sighed, “Well… About five hundreds years ago, there was a big… big war, vampire war. Between the Martel family and their supporters and the Loire family and their own support. They were fighting for territory, you see, french grounds, and as the king of France wanted his land back from the king of England, the Loire wanted their land back from the Martel… More hunting ground…” He stopped, and took a deep breath, as if thinking deeply about his next words, “hundreds of vampires dies in each-others’ hands… but when the master of your family is at war, you cannot disobey, you probably already know the power of fatherhood…” When he looked me in the eyes I felt as if he knew about Jeffrinn, even though I never said a word about him. I hoped that he only meant my relationship with Albert.

He looked into the bottle in his hands, and I thought I knew where this was going.

“Your family, Du Bec, they were supporting Loire weren’t they?”

He looked up, shaking his head, “No… Du Bec is my human surname… my blood is Loire through and through… I was a prince just like your father, but the Martel family won,” he paused once more, “the only reason I am alive today is thanks to your father’s pity.”

I stared at him in shock, not anticipating this kind of answer.

“You still want to hear the rest of the story?” he chuckled, but it didn't make me smile like it did other times.

“Why… Why did he spare you?” I completely understood why, when the Martel family won, they would want to obliterate the Loire family and take hold of their hunting grounds… but to leave even one of them alive… it didn’t sound like something, especially my father, would do. I guess I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did, even after this past year…

“After the battlefield was lost, my family ran deep into our land, into our own castle, but by that time half of our supporters saw what was happening and changed sides…” he swallowed as he suddenly got up and started walking from side to side in the room, “We were lined up, my father, my mother, all seven of my siblings, and were stripped of their privacy, one by one, every inch of their blood drained, all their secrets taken… as you know with blood comes information, and in the vampire society secrets and information are the most important thing, as territory is. It was humiliating.” he looked at me again, his lips shaking, and I knew there were many other words he feared to say to describe that occasion.

“I was the youngest, the last to be executed, and your father, well he was the one charged with draining me. Halfway through my blood he realised that I never agreed to war… not between our kind, and that I have watched many of my friends, and now my family, die for nothing… he knew, through violating me and drinking my blood, that I have asked my father many times to stop that madness…” Klaus looked at the floor again, and I knew it wasn't easy for him to relive those events, and I understood that this, this war, was not easy on him at all.

“So he stopped, and argued with his own father until they let me live, under conditions, of course… I was Albert Martel’s lowly, tortured servant for almost a hundred years, with every year he had to drink from me, to check that I was not plotting anything…I was beaten, hurt and humiliated until even I could not recognise myself… but then your father took pity on me once more, and set me free… I have not seen him since then until he broke apart that facility.”

I didn’t know if to feel angry or impressed, my father basically tortured this kind vampire for years. But he saved his life.

Klaus smiled weekly, “I told you Albert might want to tell you this story himself.”

“I’m so… so sorry,” as his son I felt I had the right to apologise in this name.

“Nonsense, I owe your father everything. Even when I was a rat at his feet he treated me kindly… at least to the best of his ability.” Klaus smile faded.

“It was monstrous to treat you so—“

“No, it was a miracle. Thanks to 100 years of suffering I am now a better man, freer than ever before. I am alive, there is nothing more I can ask for.”

I locked my jaw, in awe at his capability to stand against such agony. Then a question popped to my head.

"You were in the facility at least as long as I was… did you recognise my heritage? And never said a thing?” We never talked about that time before, but I was too curious to stop myself from asking.

“Of course,” this time his smile was genuine, “I was always proud how much you managed to hold,” he at last sat down.

My smile disappeared at once as I was painfully reminded of that time, but again my curiosity had the better of me.

“Is that what you saw… in Dr. Spike’s machine… The time with my father?”

He hesitated, “I saw many things, as I have lived many horrors… but yes, my family’s execution and what followed appeared from time to time.” He confessed.

We looked at each other for a long time in silence, recognising each other’s trust.

After that day, I felt no need to hide from him the existence of my son, and when we sparred, it was a completely different experience, with much more respect.

***

“Father, I need to speak with you, privately,”I said one morning, interrupting his conversation with another vampire he chose as one of his generals.

He looked me in the eyes, excused himself from the conversation and followed me to my room in the Tower.

“What is it John?” he asked, his concern influencing his voice. 

“I need to go… and I don’t mean for a couple of weeks… I need to leave,” I paused for a whole second, looking at the floor, “I need to look for Elliot.” I said, my voice breaking. Saying her name was almost unbearable.

“I understand, and you have my blessing for your tracking.” I looked up at him in thanks, but his wary expression stopped me. “Just let me ask you this… What has been stopping you before? You could have always asked me to do this earlier, and not have waited a year, so what have you waited for John?”

I looked at the floor again, embarrassed.

“I… I just couldn’t…” I stopped, unable to explain myself without telling the whole story, so I walked to my table where I kept a bottle of rum and I opened it, taking a long sip before sitting down near the dead fire.

“You see, before you arrived, I have spent almost 10 months in that facility. I tried to escape twice on my own, and I was caught… Then they put me in isolation, and changed my torture routine so it was no longer simply physical,” my voice broke, and I took another sip from the rum. “They planted me in a device that cause me such horrible pain, whilst also forcing me to see things that were all in my head… I saw Elliot with… with Jeffrinn… who was my best friend in childhood, and is now also my son.” It was so painful to say, and I put a hand through my hair. “Every day, for who knows how long that all I saw, the same scene… and noise too… Oh father it was unbearable. When I saw you first is was when they took me at last out of isolation, you see… because they had broken me.” A tear of blood escaped my eye and run down my cheek.

He put his hand on my shoulder. “John you need to understand… Elliot is not just your wife, she is your mate. When a vampire mates with someone the bond that is created is unbreakable. Like she is the whole world to you, you are the same to her, all your instincts, possessiveness and overprotectiveness are her’s too, it comes in the package. And in all my life I have still not heard of something that can break that bond… do you understand? That means that there is no chance she is with someone else: Especially not your son.”

I looked at him in shock, the bottle almost slipping out of my hands.

He smiled, as if satisfied with my reaction, “I’ll let that sink in, you know where to find me to say goodbye,” he nodded and left me there.

I finished the rum in one long sip.

When I told Leonard of my departure he asked no questions, but simply wished me good hunting, joined by a bear hug. Milli tried to convince me to stay, but I whispered to her I was going to look for my mate, Elliot, and she stopped. I knew I broke her heart, but I felt it was high time to do so, so she could find a better suited man. 

Klaus was a different story.

When I walked into his room, he started speaking before I could.

"You are leaving... For good." He said without turning around from his writing.

"Yes... I'm going to find Elliot, and if she is alive, and has a settled life, I will join her in it... There is still a chance I will return before this fight is over." I tried to comfort him, knowing that leaving him here with my father was torture.

"No, you won't... If your mate was dead you would have already known. You still underestimate it..." He sighed and put his pen down, getting up and walking to me. He was only slightly taller, but I always felt small next to him, especially since he called me baby at every opportunity.

I swallowed, this was more painful than I imagined.

But he grinned, grasping my shoulder. "I only wish we will meet again, hopefully fight side by side again."

I smiled back, "I ask for nothing more."

He grabbed me, taking me into a hug I never had before. He was like my big brother of sorts, and this goodbye was harder than the rest, since I knew of the high chance of him dying in this war.

"Tell your mate and son that they always have a friend in me."

"Remind my father that you are no longer in his mercy, but under my protection."

"Write." He begged, stepping away.

"As soon as I have something to tell," I laughed, returning his joke of always mocking me at the lack of stories I possessed.

And so we laughed together, maybe for the last time.

“Goodbye father, I’ll send a word when I know what is happening,” I nodded to him as we stood next to the slowly opening gate after I managed to say all my goodbyes.

“Go find your mate son… if she is dead like you fear, or that you cannot find her, you always have a place here,” he smiled at me, and I forced myself to smile back. How did he know I was scared she was dead?

He grabbed my forearm, and I grabbed his, it was like a shake, but like a hug. It was goodbye.


	4. Epilogue: Coming Home

* * *

**Epilogue: Coming Home**

**Present Day**

Elliot was sitting in the kitchen with Emily, making her laugh as she heard Raine run into the room.

“Aunt Ell There is someone at the door for you, and he sounds very upset, and Uncle Jeff sounds upset too and so mum told me to call you because Jeff won’t let him come in.”

“What?” Elliot was so confused, who on earth Jeff would try and stop from seeing her?

She picked Emily up from her chair and walked to the reception room, and as she opened the door the smell hit her before she saw who it was, because Jeff was blocking the door.

It couldn’t be. He… he was dead.

“Jeffrinn?” Elliot’s voice broke, and she held Emily tighter, but was unable to move forward.

Jeffrinn turned his head, the brown of his eyes gone into black with rage, but he saw her and his pupils went as small as they could.

“Elliot you should-“ but he didn’t get to finish the sentence.

“Elliot?” She heard him shout, and she almost fell to her knees.

Because behind Jeff she could now see John. Blue eyes and black hair. Somehow taller and bigger than before.

And she smelt him, and he was real.

She walked closer, when at last the two males shut up, and she stood next to Jeffrinn in front of John and while still holding Emily with one arm she reached to his face.

He was real.

His face was soft, but not as soft as she remembered. There seemed to be some pain behind it.

But she didn’t care.

In a swift movement her hand went from his cheek to his neck as she grabbed him and pushed him against the door frame, still holding Emily with her other hand she pinned him there, growling.

“How. Dare. You.”

He didn’t even struggle, he simply reached with long arms to her face and smiled as tears seemed to fill his eyes and she thought she heard him sigh in relief.

“HOW DARE YOU COME BACK HERE AFTER ABANDONING US?!” She now screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring about the humans passing the street and looking in confusion. She needed answers.

His face filled with pain and sorrow, and something in his eyes finally hit her.

She let him go, took a couple of steps back, and then turned away and walked through the kitchen and into the garden.

Elliot couldn’t breath, she couldn’t seem to think straight.

How can this be? What has he done all this time that took him two years to find her? She felt him die, how can this even be?!

She screamed in frustration and sadness and hugged Emily tighter to her chest.

She didn’t know if she was happy or incredibly sad.

Elliot could hear some shouting from behind, Jeff and John were somehow still arguing. But she didn’t care.

Then familiar hands dropped on her shoulders, and she could feel john hug her from behind, his hands wrapping around her stomach and his head resting on her shoulders.

She sighed, feeling like at last something she lost from her chest found it’s place again.

“Who’s this?” he whispered gently, calmly in her ear.

“Your daughter” she managed to say before bursting into tears.

He didn’t move, he simply held her. She could feel his warm tears dropping on her neck, but he didn’t move.

He slowly raised one hand, and wrapped it around the baby too. So now there were both in his embrace.

The reunited couple stood there for a long while, until the tears dried, as they slowly felt whole again.

Not completely whole. Now that her emotions started to calm down, Elliot felt her lust for her mate kick back in, as the realisation she hasn’t seen him in two years kick in as well.

And now he was here, with her, at last. He was now here for Emily. They could now grow her together, like Elliot always wanted. She slowly realised the blessing this was be.

He was still alive, and it was a miracle to her. She was slowly growing more and more grateful to it.

She turned around, still in his arms, Emily squeezed in between them, and she kissed him for the first time in two years, their lips falling into the same perfect patterns as if nothing has happened at all.

***

Jeffrinn was angry, he didn’t know why but he felt angry that John had not come back sooner. He didn’t even care why he didn’t but the pain his fake death cause him and Elliot was so great he was not ready to forgive him just yet, regardless of how happy Elliot seemed to be at his return.

How can Jeff trust his master after not even sending a word? Two whole years! He could have sent a word!

After John and Elliot were by themselves for a couple of days, John came to Jeffrinn one evening.

“Son,” his voice was soft, and he said it in a way that Jeff never heard him say before.

Jeff didn’t reply.

“Please, I know you are upset, but if you come with me for a walk in the mountains I’ll explain what happened.”

“Why on earth would I want your excuse?”

“Please, just give me a chance Jeff, hear what I have to say and if it’s not enough to get sympathy, or at least forgiveness, than you can hate me and never talk to me again.”

Jeff grumbled, but followed his master out the back and into the forest. He couldn’t call him father in his head, from how angry he was.

When they were deep in the forest and far away, John started to talk.

“You see after I was shot they took me into a training facility. Where they torture vampires with expensive machines to the point we are brainwashed to believing we should be slaves. They conditioned as to hate blood.” John rolled up his sleeves, and showed Jeffrinn the weird little scars on his wrists and upper arm.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t even kill myself because there wasn’t even a point to that… but then my father came, and with his help I escaped. But as return to his help and as a way to cope and leave all that conditioning and fear behind me, I joined him and helped him fight against the hunters to try and release as many vampires as possible. But Jeff I didn’t stay till the end of the fight, the second I had enough courage, I told him goodbye and came to find you. And that wasn’t easy either! I’ve been looking for you for almost five months.”

Jeffrinn blinked, surprised. He did not expect this kind of excuse.

***

It took a while for things to settle down, but a month or two after I found my family again Elliot seemed to forget and Jeff seemed to forgive.

I took the longest to find my place again. It seemed in my absence Elliot and Jeff did get closer, but as a mother and son. And now that Jeff was angry at me he seemed to look up to Elliot a lot more, calling her mother while never calling me father.

So it took me a while to get used to that, but what took me the longest is get used to the fact I had a daughter. And not a vampiric daughter, a real one, even though she was a vampire too it seemed that the feelings were very different. With a vampire child there was always a kind of master relationship, but here whenever her little green eyes looked at me I felt she was the master of me. I was always helpless against Elliot, but against Emily I was defenceless.

I spent as much time as I could with her, to try and catch up the time I missed, but I knew I never could.

“My beautiful, good morning,” I picked her up one morning as she was waking up, kissing her gently on the nose.

“Daddy!” She exclaimed in happiness, and I felt my heart fly away from me.

She was almost two years old now, and it was the first time she called me he father. I obviously heard her cry for her mummy before, but for some reason I didn’t expect this to ever happen.

I smiled, and kissed her again on the forehead, “That’s right sweetheart, Daddy’s here to take care of you and mummy.”

Elliot was there behind me, looking at me with a big smile, and she kissed my cheek. It seemed she did expect this.

I hugged our little child to my chest, and turned around to hug my amazing wife to me as well.

“I love you,” I sighed, and rested my head on hers.

“I love you too.”


End file.
